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The Chapter of Canterbury is responsible for all aspects of the strategic leadership and governance of the Cathedral.
Chapter comprises the Dean, the Residentiary Canons, and six additional non-executive lay persons appointed with specialist skills sets, one of whom acts as the Senior Non Executive Member (SNEM) who is the Vice Chair. The Receiver General (COO) and the Director of Finance (CFO) also attend Chapter meetings.
The operational management of the Cathedral is enabled by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) chaired by the Receiver General and comprising the executive Residentiary Canons and the Director of Finance. This meeting is supported by the Executive Support Manager.
The Very Reverend Dr David Monteith
Dean of Canterbury
David was installed in December 2022 as the 40th Dean of Canterbury (post Reformation) heading up a staff of 250 and over 500 volunteers; leading the mother church of the Anglican Communion.
He chairs the College of Deans for the Church of England. Prior to this he was Dean of Leicester in the East Midlands where he was responsible for the re-interment of King Richard III after his find in a ‘car park’ and the redevelopment of the cathedral in one of Britain’s most diverse cities where he also chaired the inter-faith ministry of the diocese. He also served as Associate Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London and as an Area Dean in Wimbledon, first being ordained in the Diocese of Birmingham in 1993. His interests focus on faith in the public realm, change, culture and the arts.
He grew up in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland and shares his life in a Civil Partnership with David Hamilton and their lurcher dog Barney.
Jane Ibbotson
Senior Non-Executive Member of Chapter, Lay Canon
Appointed as a Non-Executive Member of Chapter in January 2022, Jane is a risk manager with over thirty years’ experience in the financial services sector. After an early career as a banking and markets regulator at the Bank of England, Jane held a number of senior compliance roles in major UK and International banks. In late 2023 Jane was appointed as the Senior Non-Executive Member of Chapter and is also a member of the Audit & Risk and Nominations Committees.
Jane is active in church life and worships at St Mary Riverhead with Dunton Green, where she is Parish Safeguarding Officer and a member of the church choir. Singing is a particular passion and Jane enjoys performing regular concerts with a Kent-based chamber choir which sings repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day.
She lives in Sevenoaks, where she is a keen gardener and nature lover who enjoys spending time looking after her garden and encouraging the wildlife in. Jane is also a Trustee of Kent Wildlife Trust.
The Venerable Dr Will Adam
Archdeacon of Canterbury
The Archdeacon of Canterbury combines the responsibilities of being a Residentiary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral with that of an Archdeacon – supporting the life and ministry of deaneries and parishes in East Kent.
Will Adam is the 99th holder of this position that dates back to the first Archdeacon, Wulfred, in 798. Will came to Canterbury in 2022 having been Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, where he was responsible for supporting the relationship between Anglican churches and other Christian churches around the world. He was ordained in 1994 and spent more than 20 years in parish ministry in the dioceses of Oxford, Ely and London.
Will read theology at Manchester University, graduating in 1991, trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge and the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Geneva and, later on, read for an LLM and a PhD in Canon Law at Cardiff University. He is married to the Reverend Lindsay Yates and has three daughters and a Welsh Terrier
Pim Baxter OBE
Non-Executive Member of Chapter, Lay Canon
Pim has over 35 years executive experience of strategic leadership in the arts, heritage and the creative industries. She was at the National Portrait Gallery for 22 years, until October 2019, including as Deputy Director, and prior to that at the National Theatre for 10 years.
Pim was a member of Chapter at St Paul’s Cathedral from 2014 until March 2023, and a Governor of St Paul’s Cathedral School. Her current non-executive roles include the Board of Central School of Ballet and Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. She is on the Campaign Board of Historic Royal Palaces and is a Trustee of the Portrait Fund.
Pim lives in Eastling, near Faversham and has a range of local interests including being a Governor of her local Primary School. She is a Kent Ambassador and a Charity Mentor. In 2022 she became a Licensed Lay Minister and worships in the Benefice of Kingsdown & Creekside and High Downs.
In 2015, Pim was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to the arts.
Kathryn Beldon
Receiver General, Chief Operating Officer
Kathryn joined Canterbury Cathedral as Receiver General in 2022 and chairs the Senior Leadership Team.
Having graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in Economics, Kathryn trained as an accountant. She held a number of senior roles within the public sector before being appointed Chief Executive of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council.
Kathryn is married to Paul and lives just outside Canterbury. As a keen horse rider, Kathryn spends much of her leisure time with her horses.
The Reverend Andrew Dodd
Canon Treasurer
The Canon Treasurer's role combines the duties of a residentiary Canon with the stewardship of resources and the protection and restoration of the fabric of the building, its artefacts and the care of those who work in these areas of Cathedral life. A key element of the present role is the oversight of ongoing buildings projects across the Cathedral estate, as well as leading on plans to deliver the Cathedral's Net Zero Carbon and environmental sustainability agenda.
Before taking up this role at Canterbury in 2020, The Reverend Canon Andrew Dodd worked for 9 years in Great Grimsby, where he had been Team Rector and Area Dean of North East Lincolnshire. Whilst in this role he established Grimsby Minster as a centre of civic life and a hub for arts and social action projects in the town.
Andrew trained as a Civil Engineer, working for Surrey County Council for seven years before training for ordination at Westcott House, Cambridge. He was ordained in Southwark Diocese in 2000, serving his curacy in New Addington and then as Rector of St Mary’s Newington at the Elephant and Castle.
Andrew's theological specialism is in practical / pastoral theology, as well as a keen interest in contextual theology and social entrepreneurship. As well as enjoying family life, Andrew is learning to play hockey, is an artisanal baker and enjoys world cinema. He and his wife Louise, who is a priest in the diocese, have two teenage children, Miriam and Benedict.
The Reverend Dr Tim Naish
Canon Librarian
The Canon Librarian has responsibility for the educational work of the Cathedral, including among much else the two annual Conferences, for Seminarians/New Priests, and for New Bishops, from around the worldwide Anglican Communion, held in the Cathedral’s International Study Centre. Tim is also the Director of Curate Training (IME 2) for the Diocese of Canterbury.
Tim came to this role in Canterbury in April 2018, from twelve years spent in theological education at Ripon College Cuddesdon, directing the Oxford Ministry Course. He has also had six years as a parish priest, and eleven years in South India, the Congo and Uganda, working in leadership formation with the Church in those countries.
Academically, his special interest is in missiology; he is also a keen armchair sportsman, book collector, music lover and walker. He and his wife have three grown children and (so far) three grandchildren.
The Reverend Dr Emma Pennington
Canon Missioner
Reverend Dr Emma Pennington is the Cathedral’s Canon Missioner and was installed by the Bishop of Dover in March 2019.
Formerly a parish priest, area dean and Spirituality Adviser in the diocese of Oxford and Chaplain of Worcester College, Oxford, she holds a doctorate from Oxford University on the fourteenth century devotional writer Julian of Norwich and speaks widely on Julian of Norwich, Christian Spirituality, Prayer and Pilgrimage. Her recently published book with BRF is At the Foot of the Cross with Julian of Norwich.
Emma, who trained at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, from 1997 to 2000, is a tutor for the Initial Ministerial Education Reflective Practice: Ministry and Spirituality course, lectures on the Contemporary Spirituality MA for St Augustine’s College and was co-founder of the successful Festival of Prayer Day conference run in association with the Bible Reading Fellowship. Before being ordained Emma was a virger at St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Canon Missioner is a Residentiary Canon role and Emma is one of the two Commissioner’s Canons. She has responsibility for the ministry of outreach, community engagement and welcome and is the Cathedral Safeguarding Lead. She also has oversight of the pastoral offices of the Cathedral and the care of volunteers. Emma develops links and partnerships with charitable and missional communities including fostering collaboration with this work in the Diocese. She chairs the Refugee Project Board which includes representatives from KRAN, the Clewer Initiative and the Social Justice Network to organise events and talks to highlight the plight of refugees and asylum seekers.
As lead on Safeguarding, Emma chairs our Safeguarding Executive Group, implementing training and policies and is the first port of call for concerns, incidents and cases. She also sits on the Safeguarding Committee for Rochester Cathedral. She is also working with our music outreach programme to develop and embed our social impact. Emma is a writer and leads retreats and quiet days on Christian Spirituality across the country while being much in demand as a Spiritual Director. She is a full member of the Senior Leadership team, Trustee of the Friends’ and attends the Finance Committee.
Guy Perricone
Non-Executive Member of Chapter, Lay Canon
After graduating in Law at Cambridge University, England, in 1983, Guy qualified as a solicitor at the City law firm Linklaters & Paines. In 1988, Guy joined Salomon Brothers, London, before moving to S. G. Warburg, London, in 1992. In 1993, Guy and three former Salomon Brothers colleagues formed a joint venture investment banking boutique specialising in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe, which was acquired by ABN AMRO Bank in 1997.
In August 2005, seeking a professional and personal change, Guy left investment banking to become Managing Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. In 2009, Guy was appointed Chief Executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in London. In August 2013, Guy was appointed Chief Executive and Under Treasurer of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, one of the four historic Inns of Court, and the professional home to barristers and judges. His responsibilities there included oversight of the Temple Church, which was shared with the Inner Temple. He stepped down from this post in 2023.
In addition to his executive roles, Guy has held a number of voluntary roles in the Arts and Education sector. These included Chair of the Trustees the Royal Academy of Dance, Chair of the Trustees of Christ’s Hospital School Foundation, Chair of the Trustees of Northern Ballet, Chair of Roedean School, Trustee of the National Army Museum and Trustee of the Gabrieli Consort & Players.
Guy is married with two children and lives in West Sussex.
Paul Sylva
Non-Executive Member of Chapter, Lay Canon
Paul was appointed as a Non-Executive Member of the Chapter in October 2023, and he chairs the Cathedral’s Finance Committee.
He is a Chartered Accountant with extensive work experience as a Finance Director in the charity sector. Before he moved into the charity sector, he worked for Reuters and PWC.
He is an experienced board member having served on the board of an NHS Trust and several housing associations, as well as being a trustee for numerous charities. Currently, he is a trustee of the Thames Opera Company and a board member of Gravesend Churches Housing Association.
Paul is married to Karen, and they have one son. He lives in London and is active in the livery world, as a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators.
The Reverend Wendy Dalrymple
Precentor, Residentiary Canon Designate
Prior to ordination, Wendy was a Youth and Community worker, working in faith-based and secular settings, including for the YMCA where she ran projects in prisons. She served her curacy in the Mirfield Team Parish in Wakefield Diocese before becoming the first chaplain to the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing, West Sussex. She spent three years in Guildford Diocese as Priest-In-Charge of a rural multi-parish benefice, and for the past eight years has been Rector of All Saints with Holy Trinity, Loughborough in the Diocese of Leicester where she has fostered an inclusive approach to both the pastoral and liturgical life of the church. She has also served as Area Dean, Chair of House of Clergy and most recently as a General Synod representative.
She has been attending Greenbelt festival for more years than she cares to remember, and likes nothing better on her day off than a long walk followed by a boxset binge. She is married to Chris who is a retired Police Officer which gives him more time to enjoy his love of wildlife and the countryside, particularly fly-fishing. They have three grown-up children, two grandchildren, and two canine companions, Angus and Thorn.
Julie Wood
Director of Finance & Planning
Julie joined Canterbury Cathedral in August 2008 to head up the Finance Department. During her career she has worked as an accountant in the professional, commercial and charitable sectors which together has provided a good background for the world of cathedral finance.
Having obtained a BSc Honours degree in Zoology at Durham University, Julie trained as a Chartered Accountant in the City. She has at various times been a trustee of several small charities, a school governor and is currently a director of Cathedral Enterprises Limited.
Julie has three grown up children and lives with her husband a few miles from Canterbury where she also keeps a small flock of pedigree Wiltshire Horn sheep.
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